3-4-13 – Brian Harrison, Rainy Lara, Jerry Sands, Kirk Nieuwenhuis

Mack Ade  - Brian... let me guess... St. Lucie OD?

Brian Harrison - Mack- I don't know for sure but I'm hoping to get a chance to get a lot of at bats somewhere and continue to improve on my overall game

       This is a seriously good guy that also happens to have graduated from the same school my daughter went to. He played Savannah in 2012 (.241) and almost turned it loose a couple of times. Started in the organization at third, but now has settled into 1B. It’s either him or Cole Frenzel in St. Lucie next month.

Heard from Rainy Lara:

Lara – Hi,  Mack

Mack - Hey Rainy...  my guess is you and I will be seeing each other in Savannah next month.

Lara – Maybe

              This is the most you are getting out a minor leaguer with four weeks to go in camp. Frankly, they aren’t told where they are going until the day before they leave Lucy. Trust me, he’ll be here in Savannah with most of his old Cyclone rotation that led the league with the lowest ERA and WHIP.

              Lara is 6-4, 180 and needs to put some meat on. 8-3, 2.91, in 12 starts with a 0.96 WHIP. 77-Ks in 68.0-IP. Good stuff.

Savannnah’s rotation projects out as some combination of guys like Lara, Gabriel Ynoa, Steven Matz, Luis Cessa, Julian Hilario , John Gant, Miller Diaz, and Alex Panteliodes.

Randy asked -  

Mack: With the outfield so sad why don't Alderson make a pitch to the Pirates for Jerry Sands to play OF. Don't think he is in their immediate plans for now.

Mack - A 24-yr old righthanded hitting outfielder that had 26-HR and 107-RBI in AAA last season? Nah…

First thing, it takes two parties to make a deal and I’m not sure the Mets are dealing right now. There’s an awful lot of tension right now in camp (Santana-Alderson fight, Adam Rubin article) and the team is playing really bad). Alderson has let it known a number of times that he is done adding outsiders to the mix, even though the combo of Mike Baxter, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Andrew Brown, Lucas Duda, Juan Lagares, Jamie Hoffman, and Matt den Dekker is 13-94.

Secondly, Chicago remains targets at first getting Alfonso Soriano off their roster which could open a slot for Sands.

No, sadly for Mets fans, this is the team you are going to have to root for in 2013.

Kristieackert ‏@Kristieackert

Kirk Nieuwenhuis says knee feels about same as yesterday going to doctor for tests at 10 am. MRI

This may actually turn out to be a good thing for the Captain. He was off to a horrible start this spring and was probably headed to Las Vegas as part of a visible demotion. This way, it looks like a rehab assignment and he can pay next to Matt den Dekker and get both his knee and head back in the game.